Thursday, March 02, 2017

US Army pushing to get more Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) sooner.

The first of the new combat vehicles are expected to be deployed as part of the European Reassurance Initiative starting around October 2019, the first quarter of fiscal 2020, service spokeswoman Ashley Givens said in an email. They would be the vanguard of up to 258 of the new, better-armored, more spacious vehicles, according to a service document. The service wants to field two brigades of the vehicles to Europe over four years, Givens said.The accelerated fielding “recognizes the shortcomings of the M113 in almost every possible way” in terms of protection, commonality with the Bradley Fighting Vehicles it must fight alongside and additional room for soldiers, Major General David Bassett, program executive for ground combat vehicles, said in an interview. Bassett recalled the M113 was removed from the Iraq War because of its inadequate armor protection.Accelerating deployment for Europe “is just an acknowledgment that whatever acquisition risks exist with some early production” of the new vehicles that are now in prototyping, “it pales in comparison to the operational risk offered by an obsolete, legacy vehicle,” he said.

I was on the verge of raging about the Marine Corps being so slow that the Army could develop a new vehicle and get it into service before the Corps could buy an off the shelf model.

I'll table that critique though.

The Army's justification holds weight and I don't think we can say the same about the AAV-SU in comparison to the ACV versus the AMPV in comparison the M-113 (sorry Mike...don't rage bro, just an opinion!).

This does have me revolving back to the ACV vs. AAV-SU debate. Does the ACV give us enough to go with a family of vehicles? Is the ability to develop a family of vehicles based on whichever ACV candidate wins worth the expense?